ASI - Association de la Sommellerie Internationale

What a contest! We can't believe that the ASI Contest Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East 2024 is over! Our deepest gratitude to the hosts for welcoming us in Serbia, we have truly experienced the local hospitality! Big thanks to our volunteers, who are instrumental in organising events like this, as well as to the whole ASI team, including ASI Board, Technical Committee and everyone involved in organisation of the contest. Thank you to all the participants, delegates, partners and journalists who have been part of the contest this week, you have made it a truly unforgettable experience! Stay tuned for 2025 - we will have a number of great events planned for you - ASI Contest Best Sommelier of the Americas 2025, ASI Contest Best Sommelier of Asia and Pacific 2025, ASI General Assembly in South Africa and ASI Bootcamp for Asia-Pacific sommeliers! #asisomms #asibestsomm #sommelier #wine #sommeliercontest #asibestsomm2024 #asiserbia2024 #asibestsommeliereuropeafricamiddleeast2024

The Winner takes it all! We present you the ASI Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East 2024 - Mikk Parre representing Estonia! Congratulations for this incredible achievement! Bravo! We also take the moment to congratulate the finalists - first runner-up Pascaline Lepeltier from France, and second runner-up Martynas Pravilonis from Lithuania. Well-done to the runner-ups, amazing achievement and to many more to come! A thriller final to watch, if you missed it - the replay is available on our YouTube channel https://lnkd.in/eQ-qa_q8 #asisomms #asibestsomm #sommelier #wine #sommeliercontest #asibestsomm2024 #asiserbia2024 #asibestsommeliereuropeafricamiddleeast2024

Today is the official start of ASI Contest Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East 2024! Our candidates have ahead of them a day full of tasks - best of luck to all of them! 41 candidates from Europe, Africa and Middle East are representing their national sommelier associations. Do not miss the announcement of semifinalists - as usual it will be streamed live on our Facebook and Instagram accounts. Get the chance to see your favourite sommeliers advance to the next stage of the competition! Stay tuned! #asisomms #asibestsomm #sommelier #wine #sommeliercontest #asibestsomm2024 #asiserbia2024 #asibestsommeliereuropeafricamiddleeast2024

The final countdown has begun! 😱 Final days before the start of the ASI Contest Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East 2024 🥳 Follow our social media for stories and live updates from Belgrade, Serbia! 🇷🇸 @serbian_sommelier_association A short schedule of what's to come: 11 November - arrivals and registration, welcome night 🥂 12 November - quarterfinals day and announcement of the semifinalists in the evening - live on ASI Facebook and Instagram 🤩 13 November - semifinals day and masterclasses 😎 14 November - wine regions visits 🍷 15 November - masterclass and gland finale 🏅 The livestream of the final will be held on ASI Youtube channel: https://lnkd.in/eBUJxt-v Do not forget to hit 'notify' button to lake sure you don't miss it! 🍾 Stay tuned and support the sommeliers! 🍷 #asisomms #asibestsomm #sommelier #wine #sommeliercontest #asibestsomm2024 #asiserbia2024 #asibestsommeliereuropeafricamiddleeast2024

ASI Magazine #17: Sommellerie and AI 🍷🤖 In the upcoming edition of ASI Magazine we explore a topic that brings feelings of both exhilaration and fear. 🫣 Artificial Intelligence along with other technological advancements are rapidly changing the wine and beverage industries, and with it sommellerie. Should we embrace these technologies? Can we afford not to? Should we as sommeliers fear these new so-called virtual sommelier platforms that are now all around us? Can technology replace a profession so routed in the human condition? 🤔 We ask these questions to traditional sommeliers, journalists and the very people who are creating these technologies. 🤩 Where is the sommelier's place in this new reality? Read the pages of ASI Magazine Issue #17 to discover the answers for yourself! 🥂 We are thrilled to announce that the printed version of the issue #17 of ASI Magazine will be available for the participants and guests of the ASI Contest Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East next month! If you are in attendance, make sure to claim your copy! 😉 Links to the digital version available in English, French and Spanish are here: https://lnkd.in/dtQix2wr 🤩 #asisomms #asibestsomm #asimag #asimagazine #sommeliermagazine #winemagazine #sommelier #wine #AI #sommellerie

Meet our candidates for ASI Contest Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East 2024! We are thrilled to present to you the candidates who will compete for the title in Belgrade, Serbia, this November. Being selected to represent your country on such a high international level is already a great achievement and we congratulate each one of you with reaching it! This year we will have 41 candidates from the national sommelier associations of Europe, Africa and Middle East. This edition marks the first ever participation of a Middle East country represented by Lebanon. It's a huge milestone for ASI and the region for promotion of sommelier profession! The contest week will be packed not only with tough exams and tasks, but also with masterclasses and the famous Serbian hospitality! Stay tuned to see the competition unveil on our social media channels. @serbian_sommelier_association #asisomms #asibestsomm #sommelier #wine #sommeliercontest #asibestsommeliereuropeafricamiddleeast2024 #asibestsomm2024 #asiserbia2024

ASI Bootcamp 2024: thank you for being with us in Sevilla this week The fourth edition of ASI Bootcamp has officially concluded with the Gala dinner on Wednesday, we hope everyone arrived home safely and will cherish these memories for a long time! It's now the moment to turn this inspiration and new connections into plans, projects, achievements and goals! No Bootcamp is possible without the hard work and support of very special people, so we want to thank: Our host - the Union of Spanish Sommelier Associations, its president Rafael Bellido and our tireless team of volunteers, whose work behind the scenes brought this project to life @uaes_spanishsommeliers @rafa_bellido Our talented team of tutors, who dedicated their time and passion to teach, share and inspire the future generation of sommellerie - thank you, Sören Polonius, Marc Almert, Raimonds Tomsons, Heidi Mäkinen MW, Almudena Alberca MW, Isa Bal MS, Pauline Vicard, Mariano Braga, Peter Sisseck Our gratitude goes to our ASI Bootcamp partners, who believe in this project as much as we do and support us in the endeavour each year - Perlage - Sparkling Natural Mineral Water, Stoelzle Glass Group, @OeTW Traditionsweingueter, @Graham's Port, AdVini, Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, Klein Constantia Wine Estate, Vinhos Verdes, Wine of Moldova, @Wines of Portugal Our small but mighty organisation team lead by the legendary Bootcamp Director Piotr Kamecki backed up by ASI Board, with Soren Polonius and Marc Almert as Content Co-Directors, Dawid Sojka orchestrating the logistics and service, and Xeniya Volosnikova coordinating partners, communication, photo & video. Photo credit of the official Bootcamp 2024 photography @lluviaestudiocreativo And, of course, thanks to the ASI member associations who selected and sent their sommeliers to be part of this event, we hope it brought you a lot of value and fun and now you are ready to spread the Bootcamp spirit! Now time to plan ASI Bootcamp 2025 which will be held for sommeliers of Asia&Oceania, so stay tuned! #asisomms #asibestsomm #asibootcamp #asibootcampspain2024 #sommelier #wine #sommeliertraining #sommeliereducation #wineeducation #winelearning

Website for the ASI Contest Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa & Middle East is live! 💻 We are thrilled to announce that the website for the upcoming ASI Contest in Belgrade, Serbia to determine the Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa & Middle East is finally live at https://lnkd.in/eC4W7sGH 🤩 There are also French and Spanish versions of the contest page available 😉 On the website you can find the information about our host - the Serbian Sommelier Association and the beautiful country of Serbia that will welcome our candidates and delegates this November. 🇷🇸 Additionally, there are schedules available for delegates and guests. Please note that the candidates will receive a detailed program separately from the Sommelier Contest Committee. Also, if you are planning to come as a guest, you can familiarise yourself with the guest packages available to attend the contest and witness the crowning of a new champion! 😍 Finally, we want to draw your attention that presidents, candidates, delegates and guests need to fill in the registration form if they are attending the event (for candidates this comes in addition to the application form they have sent to the SCC), hurry up, the registration ends soon! ❗ And last, but not the least, we will be, of course, announcing the selected candidates on the website and the social media in due time, so stay tuned not to miss your sommelier contestants for Serbia! 🤩 @serbian_sommelier_association #asisomms #asibestsomm #sommelier #wine #sommeliercontest #asibestsommeliereuropeafricamiddleeast2024 #asibestsomm2024 #asiserbia2024

ASI Magazine #16: Chemistry of Taste 🧑🔬 In this month's edition of ASI Magazine, we explore the 'Chemistry of Taste.' 🤩 We invited experts in the fields of wine chemistry, tribology (study of interacting surfaces in motion), whisky, sake and non-alcoholic beverages to provide their insights of how the very DNA of our favourite beverages impact our sense of taste. 🍷 We also do a deep dive into the food and wine relationship with Francois Chartier, a leading figure of molecular sommellerie. 😋 In the process we discover there is a wealth of science contributing to the chemistry of taste, there are also factors that are less easily understood such as how our individual palate's, our emotions, our personal experience affect our taste perception. 😉 Check out our latest issue of ASI Magazine in English, French and Spanish: English https://lnkd.in/gUrBMZdT French https://lnkd.in/gcev8UjK Spanish https://lnkd.in/g5Wb6wea #asisomms #asibestsomm #asimag #asimagazine #asinews #sommelier #wine #winemagazine #sommeliermagazine

ASI Magazine #15: Behind the corkscrew 🍾 In this edition of ASI Magazine, we look at the people 'Behind the Corkscrew.' 🤵Beyond the studying, tastings, and long hours on the floor, many sommeliers live rich and fulfilling lives outside of the restaurant. 🍷 There is much more to sommeliers than their restaurant persona, whether it is time spent at home cooking with family, treasured days off relaxing at a favourite wine bar with friends, or, for many such as Bobby Stuckey MS, João Pires MS, Yannick Benjamin, and others featured in this issue, it is time spent exercising or meditating.🤩 We also have the pleasure of introducing some of our new ASI Magazine Regional Correspondents, including Myles Trapp, Natalia Torres, Joseph Mounayer, and others. 👏 In this issue, we also interview a lawyer turned sommelier, Jiachen Lu, and sommeliers such as Doug Frost MS MW, Raja Parr, Paolo Basso, and others who also make wines. Discover these stories and much more in the pages of ASI Magazine. 😉 Links to ASI Mag versions in: English https://lnkd.in/eeehvc5Z French https://lnkd.in/evSeP_Vn Spanish https://lnkd.in/e64tf-h2 #asisomms #asibestomm #asimag #asimagazine #asinews #sommelier #wine #winemagazine #sommeliermagazine